Ticket counting and inspecting machine.



R. E. KIMBALL.

TICKET COUNTING AND INSPEGTING MACHINE.

APPLIOATION FILED MAB. 14,1907.

1,027,6 1 3, Patented May 28; 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

i 7 26 V Qu nta V whim COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH coqwAsmNfi ToN. n.c.

R. E. KIMBALL.

TICKET COUNTING AND INSPEGTING MACHINE.

I APPLICATION FILED MAR. 14, 1907. 1,027 1 3, Patented May 28, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

- fl ifnedd ed Liven 602i I COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH (20., WASHINGTONv D. C.

R. E. KIMBALL.

TICKET COUNTING AND INSPEGTING MACHINE.

.APPLIOATIQN FILED mn.14,19o7.

" 1,027,6 1 3, Patented May 28, 1912;

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

and Inspectin ROBERT E.

4, UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

KIMBALL, or CLEVELAND, .onro, ,ASSIGNOR To THE TIGKOME'IER COM- ..rAnY, oroLnvELANn, 01110, A conrom'rron 01101110.

TICKET COUNTING AND INSPEGTING MACHINE. I

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 28,1912.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT E. KIMBALL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland in the county of Cuyahoga and State of (Shio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Ticket Counting Machines, of which the following is a ful clear, and exact description.

This invention is an improved ticket segregating mechanism especially adapted for use in connection with the ticket counting and inspecting machine whichjforms the subject matter of my prior Patent No.

The-object of theinventiori is to render .the machine more efficient, particularly in segregating tickets which may be damp or mutilated or bent, as from the counting thereof by the conductor;

In the drawing, Figure 1 is a plan view of the ticket segregating mechanism embodying the present invention. Fig. 2 is a I sectional side elevation thereof in. the plane indicated by line 2+2 of Fig. 1'; and Fig. 3 is. a fragmentary sectional view in the plane indicated byline 3-3 on Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a side elevation partly broken away.

Referring to the parts by letters, A repre- 'sents an inclined table uponwhich a packet of; tickets X is to be placed, said tickets resting upon their edges with their ends in contact with a vertical guide rib a at one side of said table. The effective part of the table, in so far as merelyv supporting the tickets is concerned, consists of two bars on, extending lengthwise of the table at the sides thereof, and projecting slightly above the surface of the intervening part of the table so that the tickets rest upon these bars only. --A follower C presses the tickets along the table toward the segregating mechanism. This follower'may be constructed and operated as shown in said prior patent; that is to say it may be under tension of a spring 0 whose power. is exerted through a lever 0 and link 0 to force the follower to- Ward the delivery end of the table. The

delivery end of the bars a are adjacent to a rotating feed roll B,which roller is preferably'enlarged near vits ends, as at b, and

. these enlarged portionsare covered with suitable friction producing material, as vulcanized rubber. The ends of the bars a are so close to the vulcanized surface of this roller, that, while one ticket may pass freely between the'bars and roller, the'space is too narrow for the passage of two tickets. The bars a are made finely adjustable toward and from said roller, so that the mechanisn may be readily adapted for use wit-h tickets of different thicknesses, by substantially the means shown, to wit: A double threaded screw M screws through a bar a at the end of the table and into the rear end of each of said bars. The top surface of each of the bars,

ward. There is an additional feed roll D,

near' its delivery end, is beveled down i the effective part'of which lies between the, V

two enlarged portions 7) of the roller B, and above the inclined delivery ends ofsaid bars.

The roller D is enlarged near its ends, and? the enlarged portions d are covered by some friction producin material, as vulcanized rubber. This rolle upper edge of the foremost ticket of a package of tickets is pressed against this roller bythe follower O. The compression of the follower, therefore, tends to compact the upper edges of the tickets between itself and the roller D, but allows the lower edge of the tickets to spread apart slightly. The foremost two or three tickets will not be resting upon the top of the bars A, but will be overhanging the inclined front ends thereof. The distance between the line in which the tickets engage with this roller D and a line in which the plane of the beveled surface on the bars a intersects roller B, is less than the width of a ticket.

Whenv the machine is in operation, the rollers B and D arerotating in the same direction, but their surfaces are traveling at different speeds ;-that is to say the surface of the j roller B is traveling considerably faster than the surface of roller D. The roller D will push the foremost ticket in the pack down onto the inclined top surface of the bars a, and the lower end of said ticket, by reason of said inclination, will be forced up against the roller B and down between it and the bars a. This ticket is now carried along by the roller B at an accelerated speed. It is held in contact with said roller by two spring-actuated pressure plates F, and is thereby guided against the rubber covered surface of a roller H, and between this surface and suitable pressure devices,

which hold it against the same. The surticket immediately it passes under the control of roller H has its rate of travel accelerated by which it is drawn away from the next ticket. As soon as roller D has moved the first ticket into the control of the roller B, this ticket passes out of contact with roller D, which thereupon immediately pushes the next ticket down onto the beveled ends of bars a, and its lower edge will be pressed into contact with the first ticket referred to. Here it is stopped for an in stant, and until the first ticket is withdrawn; and while the second ticket is so stopped, the roller D will rotate in contact with it. The advantage of this mode of action is that thereby the rubber covered surface of the roller D receives a certain minute guiding action which prevents its surface from becoming hard and polished and therefore inoperative. In like manner the vulcanized rubber surface of the roller B receives a slight grinding movement from each ticket, because for an instant after said ticket is moved into contact with said roller B said ticket is retarded relatively by the slower moving roller D.

With the construction described, substantially any package of tickets turned in by a conductor, irrespective of the condition of said tickets, may be segregated in the manner required. If the ticket be bent transversely near the middle, the roller D and the inclined bars a will straighten each ticket out sufliciently to properly present its lower edge to the influence of roller B. Moreover if through carelessness one ticket in a pack does not set squarely on the bars a it may not go squarely through the rollers; but, with the construction shown, the following tickets very quickly straighten themselves out, and the second or third ticket following the crooked one will be passed evenly and straightly through the machine.

The pressure devices for holding the tickets against the roller H include small friction rollers K rotatably mounted in a frame J, anda spring j pressing upon this frame, thereby carrying the roller normally into contact with roll H, but yieldingly, so that a ticket may pass between the small pressure rollers and the large feed roll H. Another pair of rollers K is mounted in another spring pressed frame, and these rollers operate in the manner above described. Beyond the last named rollers K, however, there is a spring actuated pressure plate N, which is held against the surface of said roller H, and thereby presses the ticket firmly against the same at this point. It is just at this point that the ticket comes into the embrace of the mechanism for giving to the inspect-ion table shown in said prior patent its step by step advancing movement. It is not thought necessary to show such mechanism or the table, since they may be substantially identical with corresponding parts shown in said prior patent-,-the gear W corresponding with the gear 7L2 of said prior patent.

The machine is operated by a crank it which is fast to gear P,which gear is loose on the shaft h to which the feed roll H is fast. A gear W and a ratchet wheel. R are also made fast to shaft h. A spring pawl 1" mounted on gear P engages with ratchet R. Motion of gear P is transmitted to the segregating rolls B and D through a suitable train of gears V U U and X. If the crank is turned forward the entire machine is put in motion, but if the crank is turned backward, only the segregating rolls B and D turn backward. It is frequently desirable to turn them backward in order to remove a ticket which may not have started right, but the purpose of the machine would be defeated if the counting and inspecting mechanism were also turned backward.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In ticket separating mechanism, the combination of a'rigid support for a pack age of'tickets, a follower adapted to move along said support a package of tickets resting on edge thereon, a rotatable segregating roller which does not extend over said support but is arranged opposite the end of said support and at a distance therefrom slightly greater than the thickness of one ticket to be segregated and not so great as the thickness of two of such tickets, and a supplemental segregating roller rotating at less peripheral speed than the first mentioned roller which overhangs the end of said support and is located at such distance above the same that it will engage the front face of the front ticket resting on edge on said support near the upper edge of said ticket.

2. In ticket separating mechanism, the combination of a support which inclines slightly upward toward its delivery end, and which has at its delivery end a downwardly inclined top surface, a follower adapted to move a package of tickets resting on edge on said support toward the front end thereof, a

rotatable segregating roller which lies close to the end of said support but does not extend over the same, the distance between said roller and the front end of said support being slightly greater than the thickness of one ticket and not so great as the thickness of two of said tickets, and a supplemental segregating roller which overhangs the front end of said support and is at such distance above the same that the front ticket resting on edge on said support will be engaged near its upper edge by said supplemental roller.

3. In ticket separating mechanism, the combination of a rotatable segregating roller, a support for a package of tickets,

'the front end of said support being close to said roller, a supplemental feed roller overhanging the front end of said support, a follower for moving the package of tickets along said support and pressing the front ticket against said supplemental roller, and means for turning said rollers at difl'erent surface speeds, viz., the supplemental roller slower than the other roller.

4:. In ticket separating mechanism, the combination of a rotatable segregating roller, a ticket support comprising two bars arranged with their ends close to the surface of said roller, means for adjusting said bars toward and from said roller, a supplemental feed roller which overhangs said bars, and a follower for pressing the upper edge of a package of tickets restlngupon said bars between itself and said supplemental roller.

5. In ticket separating mechanism, the combination of a rotatable segregating roller, a ticket support comprising two bars arranged with their front ends close to said segregating roller and having their top surface at said ends beveled downward, a supplemental feed roller which overhangs the beveled surface'of said bars, and a follower for pressing the upper edges of a package of tickets resting upon said bars between itself and said supplemental roller.

6. In ticket separating machine, the combination with ticket segregating mechanism,

.of ashaft, a gear loosely'mounted thereon,

and mechanism intermediate of said gear and the segregating mechanism whereby the latter isoperated, a gear fast to said shaft,

and a ratchet and pawl connection between said shaft and loosely mounted gear.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto aifix my signature in the presence of two witnesses. ROBERT E. KIMBALL.

Witnesses:

JOHN B. BENTON, H. R. SULLIVAN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

